25 Ways To Draw Nearer to Christ
Tonight, I want to speak of ways in which we can draw nearer to our Savior. But before I do, I want to stress why we want to come unto Christ.
I’ll start with a story by Tad R. Callister:
“One Sunday morning our teenaged son stood with two other priests to administer the sacrament, as they had done on many prior occasions. They pulled back the white cloth, but to their dismay there was no bread. One of them slipped out to the preparation room in hopes some could be found. There was none. Finally, our trouble son made his way to the bishop and shared the concern with him. A wise bishop then stood, explained the situation to the congregation, and asked, ‘How would it be if the sacrament table were empty today because there were no Atonement?’ I have thought of that often—what would it be like if there were no bread because there had been no crucifixion; no water because there had been no shedding of blood? Of course, the question is now moot, but it does put in perspective our total dependence on the Lord.”
I know that I have a total dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ, as do all of you. When I consider what my life would be like without the Hope of Christ, I can only see desperation, bleakness and despair.
I can only see myself as a trapped man—with no means of escape. Without Christ’s selfless Atonement, our spiritual lives would be DOA.
It’s appropriate that when the Israelites were marching through the desert they were fed by a bread—manna, and that Moses smote the rock, and water gushed forth to quench the thirst. Just as their physical salvation depended on bread and water, so do our spiritual lives depend on the Bread of Life and the Living Waters—Jesus Christ. And it should be noted that, in time, we will also be physically rescued by Christ’s Atonement, when we are all resurrected.
With that in mind, I’d like you to take just a moment. And think about what it must have been like to be in the Grand Council in Heaven, having just heard the Father explain His Great Plan of Happiness to us. The blessings of that plan to those who successfully navigated the tests of this life were a never-ending, complete joy; eternal life with our Father in Heaven, and the promise that we may one day be as He is. What great joy we must have had to have the possibility of those blessings, yet our realization of those gifts depended on One of the Father’s Children performing a great, selfless Atonement of immeasurable suffering and pain. This Sacrifice had to be made by Best of the Father’s Children, for He had to perfect, even in the midst of great temptation, to be qualified to make this Atonement. He had to be so full of love that he would “descend below them all” to rescue us from sin. Knowing this, can you imagine the joy you felt when the Best of Our Father’s Children, Jesus Christ, stepped forward and gladly took this responsibility upon Himself, when he said, “Here Am I. Send me.” Imagine that moment and what it must have meant to you then, and what it should mean to you now!
“Yes,” we must have thought, “It could only be Jehovah!”
I’m sure we all knew in that instant that Christ would come through, and perform that Atonement with exactness. And indeed, he did exactly that. And why did he go through the awfulness of Gethsemane and the treachery of the Cross? Because he loved us.
There is a lesson I hope we have imprinted on our hearts: Christ loved us enough to be our Atoner.
And so we, standing behind the Father’s choice to pick Jesus to be Our Christ, came to Earth to prove ourselves.
Now, you have probably seen a TV show or heard a story in which two people claim ownership of a dog, and they always seem to resolve this is the same one: the two people will stand on opposite ends of the yard and call the dog, and whoever the dog goes to is its rightful owner. In a sense, that’s what’s happening here on Earth. Christ is calling to us, and Satan is tempting us to come his way. Every step we take toward Satan is a step away from Christ. Every step we take toward Christ is a step away from Satan.
Therefore, I hope you can see the wisdom of drawing closer to Christ. You choose which way you go. As Nephi wrote: “And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself” (2 Nephi 2:27). Again, it is your choice, but the soundest, happiest and best choice is to come unto Christ. I hope you will.
Now, these are some ways in which you can.
These first five items I call “The Basics”—these are the simple fundamental, everyday things you can do that will strengthen your spirit. When Vince Lombardi was hired to coach the Green Bay Packers, reporters asked him what he was going to do in his new role—would he emphasize the pass, the run, defense, what? Instead, Lombardi responded, “We’ll be brilliant at the basics.” Lombardi’s teams were, and they won so much, they named the Super Bowl trophy after him. Similarly, in our spiritual doings, we need to be brilliant at the basics, so that we are prepared for whatever Satan throws at us. This preparation is absolutely necessary each day. I remember Elder Holland once saying to missionaries that their preparation time between 6:30 and 9:30 a.m. each day, “Would break or make your mission.” And isn’t interesting that of all of the preparations that Captain Moroni made for his imminent war with Amalickiah, the first one he made was preparing the minds of the people to be faithful to Christ? If you want to win your spiritual battles you must first have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
#1—Gain A Testimony; then strengthen, protect and adhere to that testimony.
First, I want you to know that I have a strong, vibrant testimony that Jesus is the Christ; I know He is my Savior. The Spirit has whispered this to my heart so many times that I cannot deny it. I do know Christ is the Atoner!
It makes sense that the first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why would you want to be obedient to his commandments if you didn’t believe this? Once, you have faith in Christ, that faith becomes the catalyst of all other acts—coming to church, marrying in the temple, accepting a call to serve, etc.—the desire to do all those things comes from a testimony of Christ and His Restored Church.
Once we gain a testimony, it is ours to remember; ours to strengthen through study and spiritual experience; ours to protect against Satan and his minions. Once. we have that testimony we are building on the Rock of Our Redeemer; we want to build on this foundation so that we can, as Helaman wrote, withstand the shafts in the whirlwind that Satan will hurl at us. This is best done by adhering to our testimony, meaning we keep Christ’s commandments because we love Him and revere Him as our Savior.
#2—Read Your Scriptures
Bishop Ferguson has wisely counseled us to read our scriptures for 30 minutes for the next 30 days. Quite honestly, I’m off to a rough start, but I plan to repent and finish up strong. If you’re like me and haven’t yet been diligent in meeting Bishop Ferguson’s challenge, I hope you will join me in a renewed effort to start again and this time do it right.
I believe reading the scriptures has a profound impact on one’s relationship with God. I know this, because I can tell when I am neglectful in my reading, I find myself distanced from God, taking steps toward Satan. The scriptures drive a man toward Christ. Read your scriptures, and as you do you will internalize them and become a more Christ-like person. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell once said, “We possess these precious truths! Now they must come to possess us!”
#3—Pray Always
In Doctrine & Covenants 10:5, the Lord promises us: “Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conqueror Satan …” Certainly, that is our goal! We want to return to live our Heavenly Father, right? How do we do that? We conqueror Satan? What’s the best way to conqueror Satan? Pray Always.
#4—Go to Church—All Three Meetings
Church is three hours long—not two. Just because the scenery may not be as interesting in the Elders’ Quorum, it’s no reason to go home. The purpose of church is not to socialize, although that’s a great benefit of it. The purpose of attending church is to draw closer to Christ. As Moroni wrote, “And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls. And they did meet together oft to partake of the bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus” (Moroni 6:5-6).
We come to church, first, to renew our covenants with Christ, and we also attend to worship Christ, and to speak “one with another concerning the welfare of their souls.” This refers to sacrament talks and Sunday School and Elders’ Quorum lessons. When you miss one of your meetings, you may miss a message that Christ wants you to hear.
#5—STS—Seek the Spirit
It is such a wonderful blessing to have the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is the blessing to have a member of the Godhead, an Actual God, God the Testator, with us at all times. What a tremendous gift that is! The Spirit is our Guide through this life.
How receptive have we been to the Spirit’s guidance? Have we followed its counsel? Have we lived worthy of having the Spirit whisper directions to us? Have we sought the Spirit in our critical decisions? Have we felt the Spirit recently? Have we felt It daily?
Seek the Spirit. Make your lives and your homes a place where the Spirit can drop in and have a nice chat with you. I should point out that three of the best ways to invite the Spirit are to read your scriptures, pray and attend your meetings—putting things in your life that will be accompanied by the Spirit.
#6—Keep your Covenants
Really, nothing is more important to us than this. We came to earth to make covenants and keep them. President Boyd K. Packer once said of covenants: “To make them is the quest of mortality; to keep them is the challenge of a lifetime.”
Our covenants, if faithfully kept, are what will enable us to walk back into the presence of our Father and see his faith with gladness. In other words, keeping our covenants allow us to be full partakers of the blessings of Jesus’ Sacrifice.
So, there are the basics. To them, I add this “Basics Checklist?”
1. Do I have a testimony of Jesus Christ and His Restored Church?
2. Have I kept my covenants today?
3. Have I read my scriptures today?
4. Have I prayed today?
5. Have I attended all my meetings this week?
6. Have I felt the Spirit today?
Here are the rest:
#7—Appreciate the Atonement
I can think of nothing more ungrateful than one who falls into a sin-now-repent-later scheme. Such a person shows a lack of appreciation of the great suffering that Christ rendered on their behalf.
Rather, I would have us embrace the attitude of Elder Maxwell, who once said: “I thank the Savior personally for bearing all which I added to his hemorrhaging at every pore for all of humanity in Gethsemane. I thank Him for bearing what I added to the decibels of His piercing soul-cry atop Calvary.” Such an attitude reveres the Atonement.
#8—Represent Christ
A favorite saying of mine goes, “Live your life in such a way that those who know you but don’t know Christ will want to know Christ because they know you.” Another favorite saying is “don’t make your faith hard to detect.” In other words, let your light shine before men. Be an example.
To be an example of Christ, we must look and act like believers, so that we are witnesses of Christ in all times and in all places. This means we dress modestly and adhere to President Hinckley’s guidelines regarding tattoos and earrings. This means our attire is consistent with our faith. This also means that our language and conversations are in keeping with that testimony we have of Jesus.
#9—Attend Institute
A few years ago, when I was attending Dixie, I had a girlfriend who was a convert to the Church and had signed up for Institute for the first time.
She was just blown away by it. She came back from her first class at Institute talking non-stop about how great it was. She’d found something that she hadn’t experienced before—the wonderful teachers and classes of the Church Educational System. Institute really is an enjoyable thing; it’s a nice break from the college classes. There’s just a different feel to Institute. If you have a spare hour or two in your class schedule, it’d be to your advantage to attend Institute.
In fact, it’s something you must do to make your college experience complete.
#10—Stand in Holy Places
The best way to avoid temptation is to not go where it’s present.
There are just some places Latter-day Saints shouldn’t be—they include the obvious places: bars and clubs, but they also include other places, such as a friend’s apartment where you might be pressured to drink alcohol, or immoral Internet sites.
Don’t seek pornography; it will destroy you, the brethren have told us over and over again. Don’t drink alcohol—not only do you break the Word of Wisdom when you do so, but you lose control of yourself and can put yourself in a situation in which you compromise your standards and seriously damage your spirit.
If you have that much free time to sin, then fill that free time with Institute and draw near unto Christ instead.
#11—Choose righteous friends
If you have friends pressuring you to drink or otherwise compromise your standards, get new friends.
How you act determines what you become. While how you act is up to you, your acts are always influenced by your friends. If you’re friends can’t support you in a righteous lifestyle, then find new friends.
It’s not that hard. It’s not really my style to go out of my way to meet people, yet I’ve made a number of friends in this ward by just standing in the hallway. Be where the good kids are, and some good kids will be your friends. Remember the best way to have a bunch of good friends is to be a good friend to them. Lift your friends up. Praise them. Tell them what they do well, what you like about them. Help them through their difficulties. Help keep them on the straight and narrow, as you walk it with them.
I can tell you that I have some friends I would just trust with my life because I know they care about me because they’ve listened to me when I’ve had struggles and they’ve helped get me through those times. We should all seek not just to have those kind of friends—but to be that type of friend.
#12—Attend “Extra” Church Events—Firesides, FHEs, ward activities.
Speaking of being where the good kids are …
The firesides, family home evenings, ward and Institute activities provide wonderful opportunities for you to meet new people, be entertained cheaply and be uplifted at the same time.
#13—Choose virtuous entertainment
Movies, TV and books affect you. You’re kidding yourself if you think otherwise. Therefore, you should choose entertainment that uplifts instead of demeans. With all the other offerings of entertainment from church activities to sports to plays to clean movies, TV shows and magazines, there is simply no need to have your mind polluted by the Adversary’s entertainment.
#14—Accentuate the Positive
If there’s one lesson we have learned from President Hinckley it is to be optimistic.
Quite honestly, this summer has been a challenging one for me. This is not where I expected to be, the first summer out of college, when I planned out my college experience. Things that I thought would work out, haven’t, included my dream job, which I came tantalizingly close to getting—which if I had got I know I would’ve been there for the rest of my life. My life is too much like George Costanza’s for my own liking. Yet, at the same time, I feel so blessed; there is so much that I have going for me, which includes a great family, full of nieces and nephews, many of whom kept swarming into the room as I wrote this talk to give me hugs and jump on the bed. Plus, I had quite a great, exciting journey through college. And if you get stranded somewhere, St. George is a pretty great place to be stranded. I could focus on what’s wrong and get depressed. But, instead, I’ve been fairly happy because I just have too many blessings to be sour.
#15—Love Yourself
This all leads to this point: love who you are.
I include this here because it's important to remember that Christ loved you enough to die for you. It's important that you love yourself as He loved you.
I might not look like Brad Pitt or have a wallet as fat as Donald Trump's, but I like who I am. I probably wouldn’t if I spent my time obsessing why I don’t look like Brad Pitt or why I’m not as cool as Jeremy Schudde. Usually, when we make such comparisons, we do ourselves a great injustice, for in those comparisons, we tend to focus on our perceived weaknesses rather than our strengths.
Define yourself by your strengths, not your weaknesses. Then ask God to help those weaknesses become strengths.
#16—Serve and Praise Others
This hearkens back to the friends theme. I mentioned there that the friends I trusted were those who had listened to and helped me in my difficulties. This is what call the “Ammon Attitude.” It was Ammon who first served the king before he taught him, and he had considerable more success than his brothers who didn’t do that. In time, Ammon’s service won him the friendship of the king. If you have a problem getting along with a roommate, serve that roommate. Even if you don’t have a problem getting along with a roommate, serve that roommate. In either case, you will find your relationship strengthened.
The second part of this one is to find the good in others and praise them for that. Everyone needs a little pick-me-up now and then. Be the friend who provides that. Part of being a praiser means conditioning yourself to find the good in others—this will help you in all you relationships. It’s when you focus on the negative in others, that animosity is created. But when you focus on the good, friendship is created.
#17—Set Goals
Set some goals, such as reading your scriptures every day or getting a high GPA. Post them somewhere in your room and work on them with Heber J. Grant-like diligence. If you keep your goals in mind, you’ll achieve more
#18—Accept/Magnify Callings
If you are asked to serve, accept the call. Then serve with all your heart, might, mind and soul. Adopt David O. McKay’s mantra: “Whate’er thou art, act well thy part.” If you’re called to be a home teacher, be the best home teacher you can be. Don’t be like me. I forgot to go home teaching last month. Sorry, Kyle. I guess this makes me a hypocrite, but the principle is true—give your best to the Lord.
#19—Sustain and Help Out Leaders
Our leaders, most notably our bishopric, are all our volunteers, giving much of their scant free time to be with us. That deserves not just our sustaining vote, but our respect and gratitude. We also have an obligation to help them out in whatever we can. This may be as simple as doing our calling or going the extra mile to reach out to a member of the ward.
#20—Create a Heavenly Environment
This goes back to looking the part of a disciple of Christ. Only this time, it’s our houses, rooms and apartments that should testify. It was President Kimball who suggested we display pictures of the temple or artwork of Christ on our walls to remind of us our eternal goals.
#21—Take General Conference Seriously
Although we watch general conferences in casual clothes, we cannot be casual about its message. These are God’s prophets speaking to us. The General Conferences are special, important times of the year. Taking General Conference seriously includes preparing for it, this may include considering a question you want answered and praying that you will find the answer during the General Conference. Above all, though, I promise you if you listen to General Conference, you will find a message for you; you will find what God wants you to do or change in your life.
#22—Be Temple Worthy
You need to live your life so you’re prepared to meet you Maker at any time. A good measuring stick of this is whether you’re temple worthy. If you’re not, take care of whatever is preventing you from being temple worthy.
#23- Attend and Cherish The Temple
Besides General Conferences, the Temple is an excellent place to find the answers to our questions. Also, it’s the place where we feel closest to our Heavenly Father. It’s a glorious blessing of ours to live so near a temple. Let’s be grateful that we have a temple so near us.
#24—Be the Solution/Stand Up for Righteousness
There’s a commercial on TV right now, showing a group of people standing around a garbage can, staring at a piece of litter on the sidewalk and complaining about it. Then, a guy walks up, picks it up and throws it in the garbage can.
Too often, we spend too much time, sitting around complaining about our problems, expecting someone else to fix it.
Instead, we should find the solutions to our problems. After all, God helps those who help themselves.
Moreover, in a world of shifting values, it’s important that the Latter-day Saints band together and stand up for righteousness. This has made a difference in the past and will make a difference in the future.
Something as simple as changing the channel or writing a letter to political leaders can cause a mighty change.
#25—Fall in love with the gospel
The more you learn about this gospel, the more you’ll love it. The more you study the gospel, the more you will see the great work that God has done for you in your life. The plan of salvation is a beautiful plan, and the more it is understood, the clearer you relationship to your Father in Heaven is, the better your appreciation for the Savior will be, and the more frequent your association with the Spirit will be. If you study the gospel, you will fall in love with it.
Most of all, you will see a need for your Savior, and your need to draw near unto him. It was He who said, "Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me ..." (D&C 88:63). I promise you that, if you do draw unto Him, your life will be richly blessed, and should you be faithful to your covenants, you will be redeemed by His blood to be found worthy to enter the Celestial Kingdom.
I know the plan of salvation is real, for the Spirit has testified it unto me, and I know that Christ was the center of it. He is our Redeemer and our Hope. We are children of a loving Heavenly Father. And the Father and Christ did appear to Joseph Smith, and through him, They restored Christ’s Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
